"Va’eira — Part II — The Plagues as Divine Instruction"

2.4 - The Purpose of the Makkos: Training a Nation to See (Rav Avigdor Miller)

Rav Avigdor Miller teaches that the greatest danger facing humanity is not suffering, but misinterpretation. Pain alone does not educate. Miracles alone do not transform. Redemption, therefore, requires something far more demanding: the ability to read reality correctly.

This is the purpose of the makkos.

If Hashem’s goal were simply to free Israel, the Exodus could have occurred without plagues at all. Egypt could have collapsed in an instant. Pharaoh could have been removed quietly. The fact that redemption unfolds through a prolonged sequence of measured blows reveals that the plagues were not primarily for Egypt’s destruction—but for human education.

The Torah States the Goal Explicitly

The Torah does not leave the purpose of the plagues ambiguous:

וְיָדְעוּ מִצְרַיִם כִּי אֲנִי ה׳
“Egypt shall know that I am Hashem.”

And again:

בַּעֲבוּר תֵּדַע כִּי אֵין כָּמֹנִי בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ
“So that you shall know that there is none like Me in all the earth.”

Rav Miller emphasizes that “knowing” here does not mean awareness of power. Egypt already believes in power. What it denies is sovereignty—that the world is governed by a single moral authority who commands nature, history, and consequence.

The plagues exist to correct that error.

What the Plagues Are Teaching

Across Va’eira, the plagues operate according to a consistent instructional logic. They are not random. They are not redundant. Each one sharpens perception.

The makkos train humanity to recognize that:

• Power without restraint is not sovereignty
• Nature is not autonomous
• Imitation cannot replace creation
• Consequences reflect behavior
• Authority is expressed through order, not excess

These lessons are cumulative. Each plague reinforces the last, until denial becomes untenable.

Distinction: Seeing Boundaries

The sparing of Goshen teaches that Divine power is discerning. Chaos destroys indiscriminately. Sovereignty differentiates.

Egypt’s suffering is not universal. Israel’s protection is not accidental. Rav Miller explains that this distinction forces observers to abandon the idea of blind fate. Reality is revealed as morally responsive.

Imitation: Seeing Limits

The magicians’ early success—and later failure—serves as another lesson. Imitation can copy effects but cannot command reality. When Aharon’s staff swallows theirs, and when the magicians concede אֶצְבַּע אֱלֹקִים הִוא, Egypt’s false power is exposed as derivative and finite.

The Torah allows imitation to function briefly so that its collapse will be instructive, not mysterious.

Moral Symmetry: Seeing Meaning

Middah k’neged middah teaches that suffering is not arbitrary. Each plague mirrors Egypt’s crimes, transforming pain into explanation. Rav Miller stresses that this moral symmetry is what allows events to be understood rather than merely endured.

Without meaning, suffering terrifies. With meaning, it educates.

Israel Is the Primary Student

Although Egypt suffers, Israel is the true audience. A nation destined to receive Torah must first learn how to interpret reality. The plagues train Israel to read history as morally structured, where actions echo and consequences accumulate.

A people that cannot interpret suffering will either despair or imitate its oppressors. The plagues prevent both.

Why Pharaoh Is Allowed to Resist

Pharaoh’s resistance is not a failure of the plan—it is its engine. Each refusal allows another layer of falsehood to be exposed. Rav Miller explains that truth must be clarified repeatedly because human beings resist clarity when it threatens identity.

Only after education fails does judgment escalate.

The End of Part II

Part II closes with a transformed understanding of power. Redemption has not yet occurred—but reality has become legible. Egypt’s worldview is dismantled. Israel’s perception is refined.

The plagues do not merely break chains.
They train eyes.
They discipline thought.
They restore meaning to the world.

Rav Avigdor Miller’s insight completes the instructional arc: redemption requires not only freedom from suffering, but fluency in truth.

Only a people who can see clearly can remain free.

📖 Sources

• Full sources available on the Mitzvah Minute Parshas Va'eira page under insights and commentaries.